Craigslist... a not so nice story.

As of tonight, the Knight family has had it's first negative Craigslist experience. Just so you know, we have done a lot of Craigslisting. We sold our old car (the Saturn), purchased our new (to us) van, sold several household items, and bought a few ourselves. I have even hired a cleaing lady to clean our last apartment before moving to Student Housing!

Sunday night, as Josh was bathing and getting the kids ready for bed, I was cleaning the kitchen. I open the dishwasher to find... lots of water! The water did not drain from the last cycle. Being the lazy person that I was truly meant to be, I just unloaded the clean dishes and loaded up the dirty ones. I start the thing and... and... and... click... nothing. After several more clicks then nothings. We start to do some serious investigating. So the water is not draining, a clog right? Where do I look? How do I take this thing apart? I call my brother-in-law. He laughs at me. "You are asking me over your husband" he asks. Okay, okay. I will ask Josh.

Josh looks at it. "I have no idea. This thing is 30 years old!" (That does not help!) So in my desperation, I look up to see if anybody is selling a portable dishwasher on Craigslist. They sure are! Anywhere from $150-500! Yikes! Then I notice that a gracious person has placed their portable dishwasher for sale in 'Free Stuff' a mere two hours earlier. WOW! Not only that, but they live insanly close to us. We hurry and throw the kids in bed.

Josh and I unload the junk in the van that I have been too lazy to take to Goodwill, and take the back seat out of the van. It is raining (of course) so we put the seat out of the rain on our neighbors porch because ours is too full of kids bikes and chairs and sandtoys.

My husband takes off to find our new dishwasher. He finds it instantly and like the strong man that he is, loads it in the back of the van with ease. When he gets home we admire the new machine. It is clearly older then our previous one, but in better condition. Now for the test drive. Load the dirty dishes, load the soap, attach the hose, plug it in, and... and... and... click... whir.

The thing is working! Or so we thought. It runs through the entire cycle without adding any water or draining the little water that was in before.

In our greatest moment of brilliance as a couple, we decide to tip the thing over and examine the under parts. Perhaps we damaged something in the move? As we tip the huge thing over, the water begins to drain out on the floor. We lay towels down and look at the bottom.

"What is that smell?" Josh asks. It is clearly unmistakable. Cat pee. Gross. We look as the water on our kitchen floor begins to drip yellowish-brown. Josh reaches in a bit more to look at the hoses and wires. Then he sees something even worse. Turds. Not cat turds. Rat turds. Super gross.

So that dishwasher is gone. Our clothes have been washed, hands have been cleaned and sanitized, towels have been washed, floors have been moped, and carpet vacuumed. (just in case a turd fell out in the move. Claire still puts everything in her mouth!)

What a night! And now, I get to go hand-wash a dishwasher full of dirty dishes!